[Gatornation]

Originally Posted by ocean2026

Florida's priority is football and they are the top spender. Let's not link this to education. By the way, it is relevant if Florida high schools are poor- that's where the majority of U of F's students come from.

While FL's public school system is crappy overall it has some of the top HS in the nations. There are a small amount of very good schools. Again you'd find this to be the case if you did any research and looked rankings.

[vman650]

How should one evaluate a public school system?
Does one look at the best and the brightest, see that they got into college and proclaim how great the system is? Or perhaps it is the job that is done with the poor, the ones whose parents are uneducated, the ones who do not speak English. As a retired teacher I can tell you that this is where the real challenge lies. Innovative programs and skilled employees cost money. Fail with this group and you are filling up your prisons. Does the amount of money that you spend on education have anything to do with its quality? Overspending does not guarantee success, underspending does guarantee; It guarantees failure.

[th3vault]

This thread makes me laugh.... both the high school and the university system in Florida are middle of the road.... neither is terrible nor excellent, both are rather average.....

If you want the prime example of terrible high schools/excellent colleges.....look at California...

[ocean2026]

gatornation you'll be surprised that I actually know more detail than you! Read the wall st journal I believe September 10, 1999 for a full debunking of the methodology of US news and World Report and how biased their results are.

Read either the Gourman Report - American Council of Education or Chronicle of Higher Education for unbiased and academic studies.

Awww and you actually thought you were on to something with US News - lol

[ocean2026]

gator as for your comment that there are SOME good schools in a big state like Florida WHOOPIE!

Although the average IQ of Prison Inmates nationwide is about 72, there are probably more than 200 out of the 2 million incarcerated that have 110 IQ's -- using your logic "Well prisons have a lot of dumb people but there some smart ones therefore criminals are really pretty bright"

Actually don't say that or U of Florida will do their recruiting there- hey some of them can play football.

At best Florida is an average major state university - I can probably think of 20 off the top of my head that are clearly better

1. Cal - Berkeley
2. Michigan
3 Virginia
4-14 Each and every Big Ten School ( NW is private)
15-22 All the Pac 10 Public schools ( USC and Stanford are private and we already mentioned Cal)
23 North Carolina
24 Texas
25 U Mass
26 State Univ of NY
27 Maryland
28 Colorado


Florida isn't close to any of the above - yeah you can pick one subject out of 1000 that they may be ranked but overall - they fall into the bottom 1/3.

You never responded to the charge that with your screen name you have to be totally unbiased. right! Notice I'm from Texas and my son will go to University of Texas, however while many place Texas in the top 10 no one is going to be dishonest enough to say its a Berkeley or Michigan.

[th3vault]

Originally Posted by ocean2026

gator as for your comment that there are SOME good schools in a big state like Florida WHOOPIE!

Although the average IQ of Prison Inmates nationwide is about 72, there are probably more than 200 out of the 2 million incarcerated that have 110 IQ's -- using your logic "Well prisons have a lot of dumb people but there some smart ones therefore criminals are really pretty bright"

Actually don't say that or U of Florida will do their recruiting there- hey some of them can play football.

At best Florida is an average major state university - I can probably think of 20 off the top of my head that are clearly better

1. Cal - Berkeley
2. Michigan
3 Virginia
4-14 Each and every Big Ten School ( NW is private)
15-22 All the Pac 10 Public schools ( USC and Stanford are private and we already mentioned Cal)
23 North Carolina
24 Texas
25 U Mass
26 State Univ of NY
27 Maryland
28 Colorado


Florida isn't close to any of the above - yeah you can pick one subject out of 1000 that they may be ranked but overall - they fall into the bottom 1/3.

You never responded to the charge that with your screen name you have to be totally unbiased. right! Notice I'm from Texas and my son will go to University of Texas, however while many place Texas in the top 10 no one is going to be dishonest enough to say its a Berkeley or Michigan.

Every Big Ten school? lol..... no way Indiana, Purdue, Iowa or Michigan State is on the level of UF....

Arizona maybe, but no way ASU is better than UF.....

And you might not like US News, but most employers go off that when they hire graduates....

[beachmouse]

Purdue has one of the ten best engineering programs in the country and many other excellent science and technology programs. They're worlds ahead of U of Florida in terms of general education quality. Indiana has excellent traditional liberal arts programs. Michigan State has some good and underrated offerings.

As someone involved in higher ed in Florida, I'd tell a kid to go to any of those instead of trying to navigate higher ed in Florida. The system is massively underfunded and impressively dysfunctional. Faculty are leaving the flagships in droves, programs are getting axed left and right, and good luck in getting the classes you need to graduate in a reasonable timeline. IMO, the only school in the state worth the price right now is New College, and that's not the right type of educational experience for everyone.

[ocean2026]

Indiana and Purdue are so much better than Florida, have you ever been to IU's campus ? I've been to both Bloomington and Gainesville and its not even close. Ask your professors - Florida academics are more like Kentucky than IU.

Here's the Economists rating but it only goes top 20 and to be fair and only a couple of Big 10 schools are in there - 3 branches of the University of California fill the list.
http://www.economist.com/images/20050910/CSU834.gif

I sat on an accrediting board for law schools - Florida was so so- I actually like Florida State being in the capital but it didn't get high ratings either.

Worldwide the LONDON TIMES is usually considered the authority
Times Higher Education - Education news, resources and university jobs for the academic world

Even though I don't personally agree with their results. U of Florida came in right next to Bloomington but over all they were #165 and #170 not horrible but nothing to brag about either.

[flyers29]

Pray tell, what makes one a "good university" and what doesn't?

[Gatornation]

Originally Posted by ocean2026

gatornation you'll be surprised that I actually know more detail than you! Read the wall st journal I believe September 10, 1999 for a full debunking of the methodology of US news and World Report and how biased their results are.

Read either the Gourman Report - American Council of Education or Chronicle of Higher Education for unbiased and academic studies.

Awww and you actually thought you were on to something with US News - lol

Ah. So you can't go by any ranking. That is a convenient argument for someone who is proven wrong and has nothing but personal claims to back them up. You just make yourself look more foolish with every post....